Golombek M P, Cook R A, Economou T, Folkner W M, Haldemann A F, Kallemeyn P H, Knudsen J M, Manning R M, Moore H J, Parker T J, Rieder R, Schofield J T, Smith P H, Vaughan R M
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
Science. 1997 Dec 5;278(5344):1743-8. doi: 10.1126/science.278.5344.1743.
Chemical analyses returned by Mars Pathfinder indicate that some rocks may be high in silica, implying differentiated parent materials. Rounded pebbles and cobbles and a possible conglomerate suggest fluvial processes that imply liquid water in equilibrium with the atmosphere and thus a warmer and wetter past. The moment of inertia indicates a central metallic core of 1300 to 2000 kilometers in radius. Composite airborne dust particles appear magnetized by freeze-dried maghemite stain or cement that may have been leached from crustal materials by an active hydrologic cycle. Remote-sensing data at a scale of generally greater than approximately 1 kilometer and an Earth analog correctly predicted a rocky plain safe for landing and roving with a variety of rocks deposited by catastrophic floods that are relatively dust-free.
火星探路者传回的化学分析表明，一些岩石可能富含二氧化硅，这意味着母质已经分异。圆形鹅卵石和卵石以及可能存在的砾岩表明存在河流作用过程，这意味着液态水与大气处于平衡状态，因此过去气候更温暖湿润。转动惯量表明其中心金属核半径为1300至2000公里。复合机载尘埃颗粒似乎被冻干的磁赤铁矿污渍或胶结物磁化，这些污渍或胶结物可能是通过活跃的水文循环从地壳物质中沥滤出来的。一般大于约1公里尺度的遥感数据以及地球类比正确预测出了一个适合着陆和漫游的岩石平原，这里有由灾难性洪水沉积的各种相对无尘的岩石。
